Extreme weather events

Extreme weather events

Subject: Environment

Context:  The climate change remains one of the biggest threats. This year, people around the world have been doubly hit by the pandemic and extreme weather events which experts say have been fuelled by climate change.

Concept:

The rising temperatures can have far-reaching consequences, including an impact on food security, health, the environment and sustainable development.

Increasing temperatures mean more melting ice, higher sea levels, more heatwaves and other extreme weather.

2021: A year of extreme weather events

• The extreme weather events across the world this year are the unprecedented heat wave that drove temperatures across Canada and parts of the United States to a record high, causing hundreds of deaths between June 25 to 30;
• The recent floods in Germany that killed over 180 people in the country; cyclones Tauktae and Yaas that hit India’s west and east coasts, respectively, as well as the floods in New South Wales in March.
• The frequency and strength of such weather disasters around the world have raised fresh concerns regarding climate change, with scientists detecting a stronger link between global warming and changing weather patterns.

Reasons

• The rise in average global temperature is linked with widespread changes in weather patterns. Scientific studies indicate that extreme weather events like heat waves and extreme rainfall are likely to become more frequent or more intense with rising anthropogenic climate change.
• Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere averaged 419 parts per million in May this year.
• According to NOAA’s Climate Extremes Index, there has been a drastic increase in the area in the Southwest that is experiencing extremely high temperatures in summer over the last 20 years, with very little relief in the last six years.
• According to the Climate Science Special Report, global temperatures are likely to continue to increase due to the release of greenhouse gases.
• Climate scientists have also said that in general, the rising average global temperature is making heavy rainfall more likely. Warmer air carries more moisture, meaning that more water will be released eventually.
• The other important point of concern remains that temperatures at the Earth’s poles are rising at two to three times the temperature at the equator. According to a report by Reuters, this weakens the jet stream of the mid-latitudes, situated over Europe. During summer and autumn, the weakening of the jet stream has a causal effect resulting in slower-moving storms. This can result in more severe and longer-lasting storms with increased intensity.
• A study published in Naturejournal in 2016 stated that human-induced global warming has contributed to the increased frequency and intensity of cyclonic storms over the Arabian Sea.
• The Indian Ocean is heating up at a faster pace in comparison to the Pacific or the Atlantic. And in fact, the western parts of the Indian Ocean are warming up even more. A rise in the temperature of the sea surface is related to the changes in the intensity and frequency of cyclones.